Juggling, And a Tortilla Soup Recipe

Today at my moms meeting, a wise lady who takes her role as a Titus 2 Woman very seriously talked about juggling the four glass balls of our life, and keeping them in order of priority. In very particular order, here are the priorities we must juggle:

Know and love God

Love your husband.

Raise your children in the Lord.

Manage your home.

In the spirit of being a better manager of my home, I have been working on meal plans that make sense for our family, are easy to execute, and get done at a decent hour without taking too much of my time.

I’ve made a lot of tortilla soups in my day, sometimes following a recipe perfectly, but this is the best (and cheapest) version yet. Susanna even at e a few whole spoonfuls after she had finished her own chicken and black bean dinner.

In a large dutch oven, heat water to a boil and drop in 3 chicken breasts for 20 minutes or until done (no pink)

Set the chicken breasts aside to cool a bit and shred later, or drop them in your Kitchenaid with the paddle attachment on low for a minute (my favorite Kitchenaid trick ever!)

Save 4 cups of the boiling water and dissolve a cube of bouillon to make 4 cups of chicken stock.

Also save about 1/4 cup of the water and dissolve a tablespoon of corn meal (not cornstarch!) to give the soup some depth. Dump the rest of the water into the sink.

Drizzle olive oil into the dutch oven and saute the onions and garlic with a little salt and pepper.

Add the shredded chicken, chili powder, cumin and oregano to the garlic and onions, and stir to coat.

Pour in the chicken stock and cornmeal slurry, then add the beans, tomatoes, chiles and corn. Stir to mix, and let the whole thing simmer on the stove for at least 20 minutes or until you’re ready to eat.

Love it! Hurray for Godly encouragement. Those are precious glass balls…. it’s interesting because while there is a set priority order, they do get juggled. It’s not like they can be dealt with ONLY in order (like I’m going to ignore my husband until I feel like my service to God is done)… they must all be done all at the same time, but with choices made based on a priority order. Although, I think that changes with things on the list after these four. These four must all be done, and things on the list after don’t all HAVE to be done. But, I must add… actually disagree with her order. I’ve done some wonderful studies on it (that I can share with you if you want), that teach it as God, husband, HOME, then kids. Of course, you can’t ignore any of them, but I think your kids need to be part of your home, rather than trying to fit your home into your kids’ life.

That makes sense. Especially because managing your home is such a practical way to express love to both your husband and your kids. And especially for kids, a happy/non chaotic home is so important for their well being that it really should come first!

Yeah… I think the thought is that we are called to make a lovely, Godly home for our family (regardless of family size)… even before we have kids. Then we have kids, and we should incorporate them into our home-keeping, rather than putting our home-keeping on hold to do stuff with the kids. What does that say to your husband if he comes home to an empty table and no clean clothes, because you’ve (and I’m saying this generically, not to YOU) been at the park and play dates all day. We need to teach our kids how to prioritize their home and family, and use their future home to serve their family and others.

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